Texas denial of systemic racism upholds white power statesman.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from statesman.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Participants in the annual Jane Austen Regency Costumed Parade walk through the centre of Bath in England on September 9, 2017 [File: Matt Cardy/Getty Images]
There are more than a few universally acknowledged truths when it comes to writing romance: the course of true love should not run smooth, lovers should be beautiful and readers generally prefer a Happily Ever After (‘HEA’ as it’s known in the romance community).
While love stories are still routinely sidelined by some academics and critics, the politics of love, sex and desire, and the stories we tell about them, cannot be overestimated. There is absolutely nothing apolitical about love stories because our popular ideas of romance are a colonial hangover, steeped in the reactionary values of the imperial 19th century. At this point isn’t it worth asking: what’s universal about our modern idea of love?
Golda Rosheuvel as Queen Charlotte in Bridgerton (2021) | Netflix
Bridgerton, Netflix’s hit of the season, which is adapted from the historical fantasy novels of Julia Quinn, plays fast and loose with history. It opens in 1813, the year in which Jane Austen’s
Bridgerton is far from an accurate portrayal of the historical Regency period in which it is set – named for the transfer of power from the incapacitated King George III to his son George IV in 1811 until the king’s death in 1820. However, it does get some things right.
In the show, London’s social set are abuzz with gossip provided by the anonymous column of Lady Whistledown. The columnist’s salacious writing is in step with the time: gossip newspapers circulated in Regency London, detailing the exploits and scandals of the “Bon Ton”, or fashionable elite, during “the season”.